Diver dies in 40 Fathom Grotto - Feb 2008

[LIVES4SHARKS]

I do hope we get more details, to possibly help prevent an accident in the future. From a little of the info, it shows that anything can happen even on ascents, and staying together with eye contact might have helped. But its all conjecture at this point.

Regardless, we lost another member of the diving family. My deepest sympathies with her family.

Dive safe,
Carolyn:sharks:

 

[Colliam7]

Going there for tec classes in march. Any more details?

Any additional details on what may have happened?

Details may come out over time, but probably it would be very premature to share any at this point. For those considering 40 Fathom for tec training, this should not deter you in any way from that site/facility, as it was not an incident that appeared to be related to any particular feature unique to 40 Fathom. Rather the broader cautions expressed (e.g. by Wilksoner) about the inherent risks associated with tec diving and training are probably the best that can and should be offered at this point. A number of people present at 40 Fathom when this occurred made the same comment as Live4Sharks, that hopefully lessons / information learned from this can help other divers in the future. But, those lessons will probably not be immediately clear, and we will have to wait for a more comprehensive summary.

 

[Papa_Bear]

Sorry to her when any diver stops diving! But I would rather go doing what I love than hit by a bus on the way to the dive site! We know the risk and Cave and Tech diving is dangerous to the untrained, but much safer for those trained and ready to choice to go forward. We will have to wait and see what happened!

 

[divingdeepandoften]

I heard about it from a dive buddy. Very sad indeed. Condolences to the fam....

 

[scubamama]

This is truly sad and a loss for all of us in the scuba community. My condolences to her family and friends. I truly hope we hear from the authorities soon as to what happened. I too have been at Forty Fathom many times. It is NOT for everyone and is also not open to the public to just show up, don your equipment and jump right in, and that's for good reason. It is a site specifically designed for technical training (although there is a minor amount of OW training done there). This is a sinkhole that has a minimum depth of 80 feet with the deepest being 237 feet if I have that right. The surface is covered with duckweed which limits light. A bubbler system is set up right at the surface to push the duckweed away from the floating dock and to keep it out of your equipment. Visibility here is not great. I've mostly seen it at about 10 feet but I'm sure if there are enough divers in there kicking it up it can be worse. There are quite a number of set lines in this hole also. Some are down lines for training while others have items suspended like a Suzuki motorcycle at about 60 feet. There are other items in there such as a catamaran in 110' and an airplane that sits upright (can't remember the depth on that one). So hopefully that provides enough of a description of the actual site without being there. The folks that run Forty Fathom and do the training have done this for years, day in and day out. The site was originally developed by Hal Watts who is known the world over for his expertise in mixed gas diving. He has just recently retired to our utter dismay!! What I'm saying here is this dive site is for advanced divers. The people operating Forty Fathom are expert in what they do. Unfortunately accidents do happen, not just at Forty Fathom, but all over the world. So do not be discouraged from going to this site. We hopefully will all know very soon what happened in this case. In the meantime, happy and always safe diving to you all. SM

 

[Colliam7]

The diver involved was in a tec-related training course, with a number of other divers, and was with an instructor.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Just a reminder that those who have no idea what happened need to refrain from making wild speculation about the incident, particularly then it implies or makes negative comments on the actions of others that are not supported by fact.

 

[shustrik54]

I regret,it is really sad

 

[MikeFerrara]

This is truly sad and a loss for all of us in the scuba community. My condolences to her family and friends. I truly hope we hear from the authorities soon as to what happened. I too have been at Forty Fathom many times. It is NOT for everyone and is also not open to the public to just show up, don your equipment and jump right in, and that's for good reason. It is a site specifically designed for technical training (although there is a minor amount of OW training done there). This is a sinkhole that has a minimum depth of 80 feet with the deepest being 237 feet if I have that right. The surface is covered with duckweed which limits light. A bubbler system is set up right at the surface to push the duckweed away from the floating dock and to keep it out of your equipment. Visibility here is not great. I've mostly seen it at about 10 feet but I'm sure if there are enough divers in there kicking it up it can be worse. There are quite a number of set lines in this hole also. Some are down lines for training while others have items suspended like a Suzuki motorcycle at about 60 feet. There are other items in there such as a catamaran in 110' and an airplane that sits upright (can't remember the depth on that one). So hopefully that provides enough of a description of the actual site without being there. The folks that run Forty Fathom and do the training have done this for years, day in and day out. The site was originally developed by Hal Watts who is known the world over for his expertise in mixed gas diving. He has just recently retired to our utter dismay!! What I'm saying here is this dive site is for advanced divers. The people operating Forty Fathom are expert in what they do. Unfortunately accidents do happen, not just at Forty Fathom, but all over the world. So do not be discouraged from going to this site. We hopefully will all know very soon what happened in this case. In the meantime, happy and always safe diving to you all. SM

I think I heard someplace that Mr. Watts had sold the place or something. I hope he enjoys his retirement and I hope we're all lucky enough to get a retirement but I, for one, am sort of sorry to see him go.

I was lucky enough to take and conduct some training there when he was a regular fixture. Without getting too long winded about it, I'd just say that having the chance to talk with him a few times was a very worthwhile experience.

 

[contender]

I think I heard someplace that Mr. Watts had sold the place or something. I hope he enjoys his retirement and I hope we're all lucky enough to get a retirement but I, for one, am sort of sorry to see him go.

I was lucky enough to take and conduct some training there when he was a regular fixture. Without getting too long winded about it, I'd just say that having the chance to talk with him a few times was a very worthwhile experience.

Hal is still there, he is building a house right there by the Grotto. I think it was more of a long term lease.